I am humbly honored to inform you that I've been accepted by St. Thomas University School of Law for the Fall 2013 JD Program.
Terry and I sold :-( our tropical fish collector's license to Mike Knight. The tropical saltwater fish trade market is not a new field to Mike. He knows the nuances of the industry. He also got our website, so be tuned in for some awesome changes.
Mike Knight's will be receiving all your emails and/or contact info if you send it through the website.
Hello DEAR Hobbyists!!
Good News and Bad News...
I applied for a Law School and have not received an acceptance yet. If I do get accepted (I hope in GOD), Reggie's Tropical Fish marine collector MDL FL license will be up for sale in December 2012. Otherwise, Terry and I will return to business, at least until next Summer.
Sorry for disappointing you, but please wish me good luck! I will keep you updated.
Thank you for being our valuable customer.
Happy Holidays!
For some folks it may be news, but not for others.
It has been while that lionfish is considered danger for our Caribbean Reefs. It is a non-natuve predator fish. They are invasive to this ocean. Some people described lionfish as a formidable predator that can devastate fish populations wherever it feeds.
For the past 3 years Terry and I noticed that we cannot find easy any of the juvenile angelfishes, gobies and some other species.
We are collectors for fish tank, but the is not much of demand for selling these guys.
Another way that the Florida state found to promote the eradication of the lionfish is promoting annual derbies in the FL Keys. Read more here.
And you would never imagine:
LIONFISH IS A GREAT FISH to be consumed. It is Delicious!
I've tried myself. Most of our divings we come across to lionfishes that size varies between 5" to 12". We must kill it and most of the time we do not bring to the boat due to the amount of work between not getting poked by their venomous spikes and the live tropical collected critters. So, it is a waste of flavorful meal.
BUT, if you want to give it a try, eat Lionfish. There are many recipes online, but be careful. It takes a lot to fillet it. See this video how to safely fillet a lionfish.
It seems cruel fro some hobbyists but the reality is that if the lionfish eats the other fishes from the reefs, our reefs will be completely unbalanced and consequently dead. So, let promote to eradicate this evasive specie from the Atlantic Ocean.
Some people believes that to have saltwater tropical fish in a tank is wrong and others criticizes that we are marine life collectors (even thou very well regulated by the state). All of these people do not realize that nature causes more damage they we humans with our hobbies. Well, this is the way I think. It doesn't mean that I am right or wrong...
PS: I will proof read later... Tiredness is knocking at my door.
Bye
Here is the deal. About 2 years ago, I thought that to write a blog was very cool, but I did not realize that had to be a dedication involved. After every diving, I think "well, I wish I had the energy to write down every diving and harvesting experiences that we had today"... And guess what? I forget and the next day it doesn't seem so interesting anymore. But here I am... trying again.
I just made another amateur movie of my little nano tank (BioCube 8 gallons) that I have in my office. I thought that some folks would think that watch a Pederson Cleaner Shrimp hanging on a Condy Anemone and juvenile Jacknife fish (collected in the Caribbean ocean, but on the Gulf side) would be interesting. So, you can search the video on youtube under Caribbean Tropical Fish.
We sold about 7 Pederson Shrimp along with some other inverts to a nice customer in California. Unfortunately, UPS disappointed me so much! We had shipped next day air delivery, and for the first time UPS did not delivered on time. and YES, I had 1 DOA of a Emerald Crab. But, so far... so good! Everything else survived and this was what our customer sent by email.
"Oh WOW, can't thank you enough again for the GREAT communication, instant responses, and wonderful inverts that you have sent me as well as the AWESOME extras. I'll definitelly give a GREAT review on your FaceBook page and youtube video. Hope everything arrives safe and healthy!
Thanks, cheers, and Happy Reefing!!!"
C'om... You tell me if this is not great! This email is one of my motivations to keep this blog alive.
Thank you Ryan and all other hobbyists that give and gave us the opportunity to supply your marine life critters.
We really enjoy boating, diving, snorkeling or just swimming around the houseboat. So, in November of 2009 we decided to apply for Florida State License that would allow us to be certified Marine Life Collectors. Since then, we are having blessed of a good time!
Along with the challenge of learning how to harvest marine life, we took some classes together at the local community college. We had to learn about the coral reefs and its environment system.
Terry is more in charge of building and managing the closed system aquarium, figure things out when something goes wrong… he is my chemical specialist guy, the engineer of the projects and I had to learn how to build a web site that by the way you can visit and purchase something – Reggies Tropical fish dot com – and advertising our business to wholesalers, retailer stores and hobbyists. Together we have been reading many books about tropical fishes and invertebrates.
It is very fun to go for a diving, see the creatures, get home and find out what that creature is about; if they are suitable for home aquaria and how much it would cost.
Terry is a fish himself. Oh Boy! He can swim. My diving skills had improved a lot. I even can free diving down 15+ feet. It is amazing for me, maybe not for many people that can do it in a heartbeat.
At this marine life business we came across to others collectors and they are too secretive. We have no clue why such behavior. We still learning … every day, every dive, every call or every email received.
I do not even want to mention how much money we had to spend to have these things going…
Our plan is to be successful and become great professionals in this area.
Right now we are looking forward to going to MACNA 2010 in Orlando.We believe that we will learn a lot.
As you can see… Marine Life Collectors is all about LEARN LEARN LEARN. We care about the marine creatures and we care about the hobbyists as well! When you purchase the saltwater fish or inverts direct from the diver collector, means that is way less stress on the creature and the probability to get a healthier fish is greater than purchase from retailer or wholesaler… It is also more affordable!
So, stay tuned for more silly news about Reggie’s Tropical Fish – Terry & Reggie Smith
Hello Dear Customers and Followers!
